On 4 weeks in October, 2009, GAGV hosted and facilitated a 4 part conversation. The conversation on Love utilized the Love Facilitators Guides as well as The Mystery of Love and included members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

Beginning February 23, 2010 – April 6, 2010 GAGV will host and facilitate a second four-part conversation on forgiveness – “Awakening the Power of Forgiveness to Transform.” The 4-part facilitated conversation will examine the role forgiveness can play in helping people in the LGBT community build resilience to discrimination and victimization.

On April 20, 2010, GAGV will mark National Crime Victim’s Rights Week with a program on forgiveness that will incorporate The Power of Forgiveness documentary.

Past Events

February 22, 2009 - WXXI’s popular Voices Lecture Series will present POV-Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North film screening at noon with a WXXI Voices presentation at 2 p.m. Join Producer/Director Katrina Browne to view and learn about her film Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North. This documentary is about Browne’s slave-trading ancestors and their complicity in slavery. It follows ten descendants as they retrace the Triangle Trade, exploring the contemporary legacy of slavery for themselves as white Americans. The film premiered January ’08 at the Sundance Film Festival, and aired on PBS as part of P.O.V in June.

The multi-year Campaign for Love & Forgiveness explores how love and forgiveness can effect positive change in individuals and communities. Using three documentaries and various activities, the campaign will encourage community conversations throughout the United States, inviting everyone to connect on the topics of love and forgiveness. The Campaign for Love & Forgiveness is an inclusive, nonpartisan project of the Fetzer Institute.

The Campaign for Love & Forgiveness aims to engage people in conversations in a deeper way. Campaign conversations are smaller and more intimate than town meetings or other screenings, and are designed to encourage sharing and reflection. Phase One (2007), focuses on love and uses the documentary The Mystery of Love as content for conversations. Phase Two focuses on the documentary The Power of Forgivenesshttp://www.fetzer.org/LoveAndForgive/Films.html OR www.journeyfilms.com .

WXXI will provide community groups the tools necessary to engage a group of 20-24 people in a series of four conversations using the documentaries following the framework of the Facilitator Guide. If your group is interested in hosting a community conversation please contact sfigureoa@wxxi.org.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 from 7-9:30 a.m. - The Downtown Community Forum, 15 St. Mary’s Place, Rochester, New York will host a preview screening/discussion of the documentary The Power of Forgiveness.

The POWER of FORGIVENESS includes feature stories on the Amish, the 9/11 tragedy, and peace-building in Northern Ireland, along with interviews with renowned Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, best-selling authors Thomas Moore and Marianne Williamson, and others. It explores the role forgiveness holds in various faith traditions and examines how the scientific community is now measuring the physical and mental benefits of letting go of grief and resentment,

Over the last 20 years forgiveness has come into its own as an area of academic study. Researchers are examining the psychological and physical effects of forgiveness on individuals and within relationships under a wide variety of conditions, ranging from petty insults to sexual assault. Clinicians have developed interventions that guide people through a process that allows them to forgive transgressions and get on with their lives.

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS explores this important work and translates it into a popular, accessible documentary film for national public television. The broadcast will be only one part of a national outreach strategy that includes limited theatrical release, a major Internet presence, a print and electronic media promotional campaign, and a variety of national and local conversations that will form part of The Campaign for Love and Forgiveness. The focus is on the emergent understanding of contemporary research that forgiveness is a valid tool with real potential for personal and spiritual transformation.

The film provides an honest look at the intensity of anger and grief that human nature is heir to. It combines character-driven stories of the most dramatic transgressions imaginable with those that seem more commonplace and thereby more familiar to its general audience. It examines the role that forgiveness can play in alleviating the resulting anger and grief and the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that come with forgiveness. It also looks at what many of the world's religions teach about forgiveness. The stories of the people we meet assure us that there is hope if we are open to seeking it and accepting it.

PeaceFest 2007

WXXI hosted a booth at PeaceFest 2007 sponsored by the City of Rochester Pathways to Peace. The PeaceFest's annual day-long festival was free and open-to-the-public and celebrated peace, love and the positive power of hip-hop and non-violence as a way of life. WXXI's booth featured information on the National Campaign for Love and Forgiveness project, and our local initiatives, The Power of Forgiveness and Storytelling for Healing. Festival goers - young and old - had the opportunity to share their ideas of love and forgiveness and ending the violence in Rochester and received pens and composition books with tips for letter writing.

Mystery of Love to air Wednesday, December 13th

In popular culture, one type of love – passionate sexual romance – is prized above all. But there are many kinds of love that give shape and meaning to life. This film explores real love stories – love in marriage, family, community, science, forgiveness and the search for the divine, friendship, and even war. Actor, playwright, author Anna Deavere Smith is host of this two-hour special. The program broadcasts on WXXI-TV 21 (cable 11) December 13 at 9 p.m.

Official Project Launch on Need to KnowSpecial Edition: The Power of ForgivenessFriday, November 17
9 p.m.

Need to Know officially launched The Power of Forgiveness project with a special program featuring an interview with David and Ann Scoville of Canandaigua. The couple lost their 28-year old daughter 15 years ago, when she was murdered in Vermont. Her suspected killer is about to go to trial, and the Scoville's are just beginning to grapple with their feelings toward this man. By helping WXXI launch this project, the Scoville's are hoping to inspire others to think about how they have dealt with the people who have caused them pain - thus beginning a community discussion about the concept of forgiveness. The program also featured our own Brenda Tremblay, who is producing radio stories of forgiveness in conjunction with the project, and Steve Jarose of the National Coalition Building Institution. Watch this video podcast

Share Your Story of Love and Forgiveness (Wednesday, September 20th, 3:00-6:00 p.m. at Nazareth College)

The first recording opportunity for WXXI's "Storytelling for Healing" project occured recently. Do you ave a personal story of love and forgiveness? Consider sharing it with your community through this project. WXXI believes that telling our own stories of healing deepens understanding among families and neighbors, friends and enemies. So throughout the year, WXXI invites the community to submit written and/or audio stories, at various public events (continue to watch this page for further events) , that can be added to our "storytelling for healing" collection. This collection will be shared with the community, throughout the year, on WXXI-TV, WXXI-FM and WXXI-AM, and wxxi.org.

1370 Connection: Meet the people of the "Forgiveness Project"
Show aired: Thursday, September 21, 2006